Bloc Party'Four' (album stream)

After a four-year hiatus, Bloc Party will finally issue Four, their (wait for it) fourth album. It's due out August 21 via Arts & Crafts in Canada, but rather than make you wait, the band have decided to offer up a stream of the whole thing.

The 12-track album was recorded with Alex Newport (the Mars Volta, At the Drive-In, the Wolfnote) in New York City.

In a blog post earlier this year, frontman Kele Okereke offered up the following statement:

We have just finished mixing our new record. I am very proud of it. It is the best thing that we have ever done and finishing this record has taken us on quite a journey. There have been babies, breakdowns, tantrums and hospitalisations but its finally here. We started making this record in NY in the winter of 2011. We didn't want to let the world know so we told a lie that got out of hand but it made us laugh in the process, which brought us closer together.